Thinking Of Changing From Tropical Community To Mbuna Or Tanganyikan

[elisew]

Stop it you're torturing me I'm really jealous now, I layed my rocks in two piles on the rug today, I come home tonight and you've set it up already, I can't keep copying you
Brilliant minds eh ???
Congrats on the punks, cool fish , you'll love them
I think your set up is going to be an inspiration to a lot of us for a long time to come

Oh bless, thankyou. I don`t quite know what to say to that to be honest

I`m sorry if I peed on your fireworks, I just thought the tank needed a bit more open space I`m sure yours will look good no matter how you set it out and so what if they look similar? I`m not bothered so you have no need to be either
The new additons are absolutely gorgeous, they`re such confident little things too. The brichardi is the only one who`s bothered with them, he just gives them a bit of a shove, they jerk off then come back again

Been a mixed week for me...

• "Mr Butterfly" looks a lot happier in the 620T in much calmer water and I will be finally getting him some mainly female friends in the morning, after Aquajardin let me know via facebook that they have some new stock!
  
• The Barilius hukaungensis are amazingly schoolers, at least on a par with Rummynose Tetras, but they are still so skittish when I phase their two 9W bulbs on/off! I might get a few more of these in the morning too to help give them more confidence, before moving them to the Rio240 now their two weeks QT is over. They are also unbelieveably quick and I've felt a bit guilty couping them up in the 620T for a fortnight, but I was trying to get back to better habits of quarantining before adding fish to long term stock... I reckon they are going to love the 5-footer in the new year with its space and current, but this final move needs to wait until the Humphead Glassfish come inside, which will not happen until the rapidly growing Lionhead fry and Pearl Danios have been re-homed.
• Sadly lost another two injured Yellowtails over 24 hours midweek, despite trying to keep their "jousting" wounds bacteria free with Myxazin and adding four large almond leaves to the Rio240.
• "Mr Stumpy" is still healing his caudial fin (albeit mainly his upper section) nicely and looks so much happier with his eight other Peal Danios.
• Been in contact with a fish store who have four Humpheads who have given me a good quote for adding the group to my four with shipping, which will become a vast majority of the stocking in the Rio240, possibly with the exception of my three Panda Garras. Given their looks and very quicky behavior (one minute schooling quite tightly, the next minute a "domino effect" rippling down the group from the alpha male to "want some space") I will be quite happy to have them behind my PC again, as they were one of my "must have" fish when I finally decided what sort of fish stocking I wanted.
• Good odds on bringing home a 10cm Leopard Bushfish on Monday too from my round's fish store.

I`m sorry about the yellowtails, I know you`ve had a right old time with them lately It`s good news about Mr Stumpy though and he sounds to be much happier

It sounds as if your organising and stocking is going well, you`ll be like a kid with a new toy when you get all the new additions It was good of Aquajardin to get in touch and I`m really glad it`s coming together for you

 

[kiriyama]

Hip hip, my "shop counter" fish tank is filled with water, I also counted 37 fry when catching all the little monkeys, no more tonight, i need a break after all the excitment

 

[elisew]

Hip hip, my "shop counter" fish tank is filled with water, I also counted 37 fry when catching all the little monkeys, no more tonight, i need a break after all the excitment

So is that more fry than you originally thought? Have you decided what you`re putting where yet?

Hope you managed to sit down and have a cuppa for a while. It`s funny but I suffer for hours after sorting my tank out but I`ll keep going and only admit defeat when I have to

 

[kiriyama]

Hip hip, my "shop counter" fish tank is filled with water, I also counted 37 fry when catching all the little monkeys, no more tonight, i need a break after all the excitment

So is that more fry than you originally thought? Have you decided what you`re putting where yet?

Hope you managed to sit down and have a cuppa for a while. It`s funny but I suffer for hours after sorting my tank out but I`ll keep going and only admit defeat when I have to

Hi, not out of the woods yet. I couldn't bring myself to strip the 46ltr fishbox, it's just to nice About an hour ago I put the 2 Multies and 3 Sumbu into the "shop counter" and the fry got "emptied" in the fishbox, it would have made more sense having the fry in the large tank with regards to having room to swim and grow but then I thought about how long it took me to catch them all in a 95ltr They should all be finding new homes in the new year, 37, I didn't think there was that many there, do you think I should keep one or two for myself ? seen the pics. of your punks posted, I am really tempted by them, very nice, are they a pair ?

 

[elisew]

Hi, not out of the woods yet. I couldn't bring myself to strip the 46ltr fishbox, it's just to nice About an hour ago I put the 2 Multies and 3 Sumbu into the "shop counter" and the fry got "emptied" in the fishbox, it would have made more sense having the fry in the large tank with regards to having room to swim and grow but then I thought about how long it took me to catch them all in a 95ltr They should all be finding new homes in the new year, 37, I didn't think there was that many there, do you think I should keep one or two for myself ? seen the pics. of your punks posted, I am really tempted by them, very nice, are they a pair ?

lol@'shop counter'.
Not a good idea to give too much room to those fish who are difficult to catch huh

If you have the room then yes I think it would be nice for you to keep a couple of the fry, you obviously like them otherwise you wouldn`t have them in the first place?

The puncs apparently are a pair, they`ve paired off in the last 2 weeks and they`re definitely sticking together in my tank anyway. The brichardi is being a bully, the male punc now has a couple of nip marks in his dorsal fin and the brichardi is the only one who`s making it a mission to chase them. Hopefully it`s just an initial territory thing and once they`ve been in there a while and all found their own place then it`ll calm down

I`ve asked the lad I got them from to let me have a lost of what he`s got for sale, he`s apparently run the numbers of his fish down as he`s moving them all to another tank so as soon as that`s all done I can let people know what`s available if they`re interested.
The puncs are really lovely, very confident and interesting. I put some more Escargot shells towards the back of the tank in the hope that the puncs would find a place there but a couple of the multies have taken them over instead
I may have to look at giving my conch shell a good scrub with a view to putting it in the tank as well

 

[kiriyama]

I know the conch shell went down a treat when I had one in my tank, your punks will find a place to settle soon, it's probably because the fairy cichlid was there first, I had one briefly and returned it as it terrorised my Multies, that's the problem about having different lamps in one tank, they are all attractive but all like the rockwork
I'll try get some tank pics. up soon, it's all very temporary , just looks very empty

 

[elisew]

You`ll get there with it

About the conch shell, what would you recommend in relation to location of it and how best to place it, i.e back of tank with open part of it pointing upwards or side of tank overturned? (hope that makes sense?)

The leleupi are the ones who bother the multies and the brichardi chases the leleupi away, fingers crossed they all find their own place soon

 

[kiriyama]

You`ll get there with it

About the conch shell, what would you recommend in relation to location of it and how best to place it, i.e back of tank with open part of it pointing upwards or side of tank overturned? (hope that makes sense?)

The leleupi are the ones who bother the multies and the brichardi chases the leleupi away, fingers crossed they all find their own place soon

I had most of the larger shells at the rear of the tank with the smaller ones at the front, the conch was rear corner , on it's (side?) with the openeing 45 degrees upwards (?) hope you can follow that On a side note I bought a seafood dish from M&S, it was served up in a crab shell, so after I ate the lunch I cleaned the shell up and my plec used it for a cave

 

[elisew]

Will give it a go if I can get the multies out of it

Looks like I`m going to have to empty my tank of rocks later when my Son gets home to help me
The brichardi is still giving it some welly against the punks so he`s going to have to be returned to MA, the male punk now has 3 nips in his dorsal fin bless him. They`re such a lovely pair of fish who just bimble around the tank so peacefully......well they would if the brichardi would let them. I knew I was taking a risk but I was hoping just a single brichardi would be ok......obviously not

 

[kiriyama]

It's never straight forward with Tangs
Funny thing with the Brichardi,I phoned to LFS Edinburgh/Glasow, not much in because of the weather disrupting deliveries, they both had Brichardi funnily enough, I seen them online for about 3 quid, yet I have seen Helenthius and Leleupi in the same tank as Multies with no problems, what works in one migh not work in another. I'm really jealous of your punks, I want some My one gave my Multies hell, but it was in a much smaller tank with minimal rockwork

 

[elisew]

You`re not kidding it`s not straight forward
I think maybe I was too naive about the brichardi if I`m honest, although I did read up on them I hoped I might get one that was more on the 'placid' side rather than aggressive. Mind you, this one isn`t what I would call overly aggressive, just territorial which I guess is natural for them. Shame really as he`s the only one who seems to be upsetting the others

I took out all the rocks earlier and managed to net the brichardi, he`s now in the breeding box until I take him back to MA tomorrow. The punks and multies are swimming all over the place now!
Not sure if the female punk is annoyed at the multies but as she`s swimming around the shells she`s getting dark stripes down her body. Not 100% as to whether this is annoyance at the multies or if it`s breeding behaviour

Are you definitely looking at getting some punks for the new setup?

 

[kiriyama]

Don't worry about the stripes, that's them just flaring as a warning, it's cool to watch them going dark. My Brichardi went back the next day, I thought I would have had a few days settling in before any "problems". Definatley thinking of adding punks, after seeing your two I realise how much I miss my one.
I was going to leave the 95ltr, have decided that after new year it will be set up again, there are 7 fish in the big tank and you wouldn't know they were there. The Multies love it. I'll buy a lighting unit and another external and the 95ltr will hold the Sumbu and punks, the 46ltr will get turned into a Multi shell bed and for the big tank I'm planning at least 18 Tangs plus 2 Goblies Either that or just chuck in a bunch of Multies and watch it fill with fry

 

[Carlovel1]

Liking your tank Lisa. And those fishes in your sig. are very pretty (not as nice as Celebes Rainbowfish though! )

 

[elisew]

Don't worry about the stripes, that's them just flaring as a warning, it's cool to watch them going dark. My Brichardi went back the next day, I thought I would have had a few days settling in before any "problems". Definatley thinking of adding punks, after seeing your two I realise how much I miss my one.
I was going to leave the 95ltr, have decided that after new year it will be set up again, there are 7 fish in the big tank and you wouldn't know they were there. The Multies love it. I'll buy a lighting unit and another external and the 95ltr will hold the Sumbu and punks, the 46ltr will get turned into a Multi shell bed and for the big tank I'm planning at least 18 Tangs plus 2 Goblies Either that or just chuck in a bunch of Multies and watch it fill with fry

So the female is just being a tetchy b*tch then

The brichardi has gone back to MA this morning, I wish I hadn`t had to take him back but the other fish are clearly much happier and able to investigate the whole tank now.
Apparently Christchurch MA have some Xenotilapia (not sure which ones) in stock and my local MA will be getting some in stock in January and it`s been suggested that I could possibly look at adding some of these to my current stock

Liking your tank Lisa. And those fishes in your sig. are very pretty (not as nice as Celebes Rainbowfish though! )

Thanks Carl

I have to admit that I do miss the Celebes but these fish are not just pretty they`re entertaining and so funny at times

 

[kiriyama]

I have to admit I am a huge fan of Xeno's , they require a big open space and a sandy bottom , some of them are easily bullied so be best looking into different species, I really like the bathyphilius (spelling?)...

http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=sENaiPNn2GE

This link has some lovely papilio
http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCpgvjuVuiM&feature=related